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What Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty means to me.

posted by PHADP
on Mon, 02/13/2017 - 09:26

We asked the Board to write on the topic “What Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty means to me”. This is the third article in this series. We hope it will give you some insights into who we are as well as what we are all about.

Hello to the readers and supporters of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. I am Jeffery Lee and I have been in prison for the past eighteen years and this is year seventeen here at Holman life row.

I remember when I first arrived at Holman. I hadn’t found myself yet. I was still lost in who I was and used to be in the “free” world. So in the first few months I wasn’t allowed to go outside and participate in sports and activities with everyone else. So I was allowed to have exercise in a cage that was 12 by 12 feet. I only went outside to exercise twice because I didn’t want to be treated like an animal. On one of those days outside the cage I met a young man by the name of Carey, “Boo” Grayson and he was the first person to mention Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty.

After I came off single walk and placed in group walk I was allowed to go outside with everyone else. Once outside I was introduced to some of the guys who were members of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. The next week I was invited to go to orientation for the group. I met the Board members of the group who told me the purpose and goals of the group.After a couple of months I decided to become a member of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. My first goal was to educate myself about capital punishment and the justice system in the United States of America and the death penalty in the state of Alabama. Once I educated myself I was able to inform my family.

Project Hope means a lot to me because it allows me the opportunity to learn how to fight and stand up for my life. Also it gives me the tools to understand where I can be of use to the brothers here at Holman as well as my community, state and country. I am thankful to Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty because it is a life saver.